A Northern Kentucky man who perpetrated a series of sexual assaults and digital privacy intrusions against numerous women has been ordered to serve 70 years in prison.
Kenton County Circuit Judge Patricia Summe handed down the sentence on May 19 to 44-year-old Paul Snow Jr., who was convicted of 28 counts, including rape, at the end of a trial in March.
A jury found that Snow subjected women to rape, forced oral sex and online harassment for years. They recommended that Snow serve a 356-year prison term, but state law caps the total length of consecutive sentences at 70 years. He’ll be eligible for parole after 20 years.
Summe described the facts of the case as “most women’s worst nightmare.”
Prosecutors say Snow ‘perfected’ craft in series of sexual assaults, cybercrimes
The charges against Snow stemmed from his interactions with nine women, six of whom he sexually assaulted after luring them to his Latonia Lakes home. His guilty verdict came more than a decade after some of those women first reported accounts of sexual assault and cybercrimes to authorities. None of those earlier reports led to a criminal conviction.
Prosecutors said Snow targeted young, vulnerable women, also seeking to harass and gaslight them online.
For years, prosecutors said, Snow used social media and his technology skills to draw women into situations where he could control, intimidate and sexually assault them. He often approached them online, sometimes offering to fix their phones or computers, sometimes offering them jobs, sometimes sending flirty messages.
They each received messages and friend requests for years after the assaults. Snow also convinced women to share their online account information and secretly installed spyware onto their devices to steal sensitive data for blackmail, according to trial testimony and court records.
“He perfected this craft and it escalated because he didn’t get caught,” Assistant Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Taylor Roof said in court. “He is the most despicable of people to have come across this courtroom and across any woman in the Northern Kentucky area.”
After two women came forward in 2023 reporting that Snow raped them, authorities launched investigations of incidents spanning more than five years and involving 16 women, eight of whom accused Snow of sexual assault.
There were prosecutions in two counties, although a trial last year in Gallatin County was declared a mistrial. Just before Snow’s trial in Kenton County, prosecutors amended the indictment and removed several charges.
Snow seeks a lighter sentence than the maximum
Snow’s attorneys argued at trial that their client’s encounters with the women were consensual. They pointed to what they described as flawed and inconsistent accounts, as well as a lack of DNA evidence of forced sex crimes.
Snow did not speak during the sentencing hearing. Tatum Goetz-Isaacs, his attorney, asked the judge to impose a sentence below the 70-year maximum.
“I think the overall theme of this prosecution has been to pile on as many allegations as possible,” Goetz-Isaacs said in court.
Survivor says sentence allows her to ‘take my freedom back’
Some of the women who testified against Snow at trial made statements in support of Snow receiving a sentence that aligned with the jury’s recommendation.
They recalled living in fear for years because of the sexual violence and harassment they experienced at Snow’s hands. They talked about how their sense of security is irrevocably changed. They also acknowledged that every woman who came forward will be forever connected by their shared trauma.
“Today, I was given the power to take my freedom back,” one of the women told the judge.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Man sentenced to 70 years for series of sexual assaults, cybercrimes
Reporting by Quinlan Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
